Air-line oiler



I April 20, 1948. R. D. SNYDER AIR LINE OILER Filed May 11, 1945 Patented Apr. 20, 1948 "KIRK-LINE OILER J'EusselLD. Snyder; Bryan, Ohio; .as'signorv toi'llhe jAro "Equipment '."Corporation, "Bryan, Ohio, a

" corporation-oi? Ghio rApplica-tion -May- 11,

Claims.

My presentinvention relates to. an-oilerradapted to. be inserted. in-an rair' =line, Such. asoa. compressed airl line extending to. a pneumatic hammer, .drill, impact .wrenchior' thelike.

lOne object. oftthe inventionis to.provide vaniair line oiler which produces. an. oil vapor in the line, as distinguished from .ldropsv or (slugs of oil, so that the parts. oflthe air-operated tool are. properly lubricated. without. such. drops orslugs. of. oil suddenly. entering the. tool and interfering with its .smooth operation; my. arrangement" being such, also, that occasional sprays of. oillfrom the exhaust. port; of the; tool .are. eliminated.

Another object is to provide an airline oiler which .has an adjustable feature with relation to the amount of oil vapor introduced into the air stream.

Still another object is to provide an oiler which is efiective -to accomplish its purpose only when air is flowing through the oiler, the-oiler at other times being automaticallyinoperative and elimihating undesirable flooding of .the air line with oil during idle periods.

'With' these and other objects in view,..myl.invention consistsinthe construction, arrangement and combination" of thevariousparts of imy idevice whereby the'objects contemplated are at- 1943, Serial No. 486,598

(Cl. 184--l55) tained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1' is a side elevation of an air line oiler embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof, and

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 2.

On the accompanying drawing, I have used the reference numeral l0 to indicate a casing preferably molded of transparent plastic material. The casing It] has a threaded neck [2 on which a cover I 4 is screwed, the cover itself having screw threads It. The cover M has an annular groove IS in which is seated a gasket 20 to prevent leakage.

A conduit 22 extends through the casing ill, the conduit being preferably formed of metal and having its ends molded in hubs 24 of the casing. Molding the conduit in position effects a seal between the ends of the conduit and the casing,

I so that leakage is prevented at the joint between the two. The conduit 22 has its ends internally threaded as at 26 and 28 to receive an air line from an air compressor and a second air line leading to a pneumatic tool to be supplied with air and with lubrication from the oiler.

34]- .andain. its. .upperside; a. threaded... opening. 3 2. A wick 34. extends. from within theca'sing l 0.11pwardly'throu'gh the. opening. 30. and an adjusting screw 36' .is ..p.ositionedl in the. threaded opening 32. il'lhei two-are. connected together by meansof a pin 42, the upper. end oflthewi'ck' extending into a socket) through. whichithe' pin extends.

'The adjusting screw 36 .is. provided with av lock nut 38Tforretainingl'it. at various. positions. of adjustment. "The. .o'ileriis designed ,to assume the vertical position showmin'Figures 1 and v2, so that the wick .34 depends from the conduit-32 into the casing lfland is immersed in oil therein. such foil being preferably. at amaximum' level,'.in dicated by, the'dashline"35. "The? degree ofexposureof the wick 34iril'the. conduit 22"may' be varied,'.in an obvious. manner, by rotating the screw36. so as to raise iitfor increasingfithedegree of exposure and rotating the screw-to lower it for decreasing the exposureQfor apurpose which will hereinafter appear. For convenience in rotating the screw, it may be provided with.a screwdriver receiving s1otf3'l.

Practicalsoperrrtion "'Inthe operation ofmy airiline"oiler,.when there is" no air flow through the conduit 22; there isno-oihflow into" the conduit. The; portion of the wick in the conduit.- remains'saturated with oil by capillary attraction, but the oil" does" not collectas-"drops irrthe' conduit'itself. "It may, however, spread as a thin film through a portion of the conduit.

When the air flows through the conduit, as when the pneumatic tool is operated, the oil in the portion of the wick within the conduit is vaporized by the swift flow of air past it, and the vapor serves to lubricate the pneumatic tool without feeding slugs or drops of oil to it, and. consequently an oily spray discharge at the exhaust of the tool is eliminated. Furthermore, the tool operates more smoothly when supplied with oil vapor than when drops of oil are permitted to impinge the rapidly moving elements of the tool. The amount of oil vapor supplied to the tool is automatically proportional to the amount of air passing through the conduit 22 and may be varied by changing the degree of exposure of, the wick within the conduit. Preferably, the adjustment 3! is taken care of by a maintenance man, who periodically inspects the oiler and keeps the oil therein at the level 35. Therefore, the adjusting screw is mounted so that it is inaccessible Conduit 22 has in its lower side an opening from the outside of the oiler except when the cover It is removed.

From the foregoing description, it will be obvious that I have provided an oiler which is automatic in that it furnishes oil vapor in proportion to the amount of air passing therethrough and may be adjusted for changing the amount of oil in respect to the amount of air. The device is further automatic in that oil is not supplied except when air flows through the conduit 22.

some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be, reasonably included within their scope without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

I claim as my invention: 1

1. In an air line oiler, a casing adapted to contain oil, means for passing air through said casing, a Wick extending into said means from the casing and immersed in the oil in said casing, the portion of said wick within'said. means being exposed in its entirety to the air stream for pick; up of oil from the wick thereby by'passage of air around its complete surfaee,means for adjusting the extent of the projection of said portion into said means, said casing having an open top through which the oil is filled, and a removable cover therefor, said adjustable means being within said casing and thereby accessible only when said cover is removed.

2; An air line oiler of the characterdescribed comprising a casing, a removable cover therefor, said casing being'formed of transparent plastic material, a conduit through said casing and having its ends molded in opposite walls thereof, said conduit having an opening in the lower side thereof and a threaded opening in the upper side thereof opposite said opening, an adjusting screw threaded in said threaded opening, a wick immersed in the oil in the casing and extending upwardly through said opening, and means for attaching the upper end of said wick to the lower end of said adjusting screw.

3. An air line oiler of the character described comprising a casing, a removable cover therefor, a conduit through said casing and having an opening in the lower side thereof anda threaded opening in the upper side thereof, an adjusting screw threaded in said threaded opening, a wick immersed in the oil in the casing and extending upwardly through said opening, and means for attaching the upper end of said wick to the lower end of said adjusting screw.

4. In an air line oiler of the character described, a casing, a removable cover therefor, said casing being formed of plastic. material, a conduit through said casing and having its ends molded in opposite Walls thereof, said conduit having an opening in the lower side thereof, a wick immersed in the oil in said casing and extending upwardly through said opening and into said conduit for exposure therein to a stream of air through said conduit and supporting means for said wick connected to the endof the wick within said conduit and spanning one portion of the conduit, the portion of the'wick in-the conduit spanning the rehaving an open top through which 011 is filled, a

removable cover for the casing top opening to the interior of said casing, and an adjustment for the wick extending through the top of said conduit and accessible only when the cover isremoved frornthe casing. i

' RUSSELL I).- SNYDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,121,595 Steedman Dec. 15, 1914 1,775,138 Wood Oct. 14, 1930 1,990,524 Bystricky Feb. 12, 1935 2,229,176 Kehle Jan. 21, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 606,261 Germany Nov. 28, 1934 

